Benjamin turton



(No Model.) y

B. TURTON.

BRIDLE BIT.

No. 339,716. Patented Apr. 13, 1886.

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NITE STATES PATENT EETCEo BENJAMIN TURTON, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO CRANE 8: CO., OF SAME PLACE.

BRIDLE-BIT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 339,716. dated April 13, 1886.

Application filed November 19, 1885. Serial No. 183,335. (No model.)

To all wwm it may concern.'

Beit known that l, BENJAMIN TURTON, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at New ark, in the county of Essex, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Bridle-Bits, of which the following specification is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates more particularly to that class of bridle-bits in which a small or check bit is loosely connected with a larger bit or mouth-piece, to the cheek-pieces of which the driving-reins are attached.

Heretofore various means for connecting the [5 check-bit with the mouth-piece or drivingbit have been devised or employed. For example, studs screwed into the mouthpiece or driving-bit so as to be within the horses mouth have been fastened to the check-bit by ball-and-socket joints, or side pieces outside the horses mouth, and provided with holes through which both bits pass, have served to link them together, or rings held in eyes on the driving-bit or mouth-piece have encircled the checlebit inside the horses mouth, or eyes on the driving bit or mouth-piece have received a bar on the under side of the checkbit.

The present invention has for its object 'to produce a neater, cheaper, more efficient, and generally better bit, and also particularly so to connect the driving-bit with the check-bit that the motions of the former will not disar range the latter, and to secure greater free. dom of motion or independent play between the two bits within desirable limits. When the driving-bit or month-piece is provided with eyes or rings which slide lengthwise of the checkbit,or of a bar attached to the same, it is evident that when the driving bit isdrawn to one side the pressure or pull upon the check-bit is no longer in the middle of the latter, but near one end, and the tendency is to pull down that end more than the other and to i5 disarrangethecheck-bitorthestrapsconnected with it. This shifting of the eyes lengthwise of the check-bit it is desirable to avoid. Entire independence of the two bits is not desirable, but within certain limits it is advantageous to secure a greater freedom than the means heretofore used allow.

The invention consists, first, in a drivingbit or mouth-piece provided on its upperside with a raised bar, by means of whicha sliding connection is made with the check-bit through one or more eyes xed at or near the middle of the check-bit, so that no matterin what position the driving-bit or mouth-piece may be, the strain put upon the check-bit being applied through the eyes is always at the same part, and does not tend to pull down the ends of the check-bit unequally; second, in connecting the check-bit and driving-bit 0r mouthpiece together by means of a single eye traveling on a bar somewhat smaller than the eye, so thatthe bits cannot only slide past each other, but can be turned independently of each other through a considerable angle in practically all directions; and, third, in a special bit having the driving part or mouth-piece composed ofthree or more parts jointed together, the central link being provided with a raised bar, with which the checkbit is connected by a single eye on the under side oi' said check-bit. Under the first part of this invention any suitable means for making a sliding connection between the check-bit and the raised bar on the mouthpiece or driving-bit may be employed, provided the strain from the driving-bit is not transferred lengthwise of the check-bit when 8o the former is slid lengthwise of the latter.

In the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specilication, Figure l is a viewot a jointed bridle-bit constructed in accordance with the invention, and Fig.'2 a view :illustrating the application of a part of the invention to a stift' bit. Fig. 3 is a view of a modifled form of central link for a three-partjointed mouth-piece.

The check-bit A, having the ringsB at the 9o end, is provided on the under side with an eye,

C, by means of which it is connected with the raised bar D, on the upper side ofthe mouthpiece or driving-bit. This latter, as shown in Fig. l, is composed of two side pieces, E, pro- 95 vided each with the usual check-piece, F, and jointed to the central link, G, which is provided with the raised bar I).- Tliis central link may be of cast malleable iron, or it may be directions, as well as slide lengthwise of the same. Very little strain comes upon the bar D, the pull upon the driving bit or mouthpiece being mainly borne by the body of the central link, G. Practically the bar D curves up slightly in the middle.

In use the check-straps are attached to the rings B, the driving-reins to the cheek-pieces F. The connection of the check-bit A with the driving-bit or mouth-piece E G, by means of the eye C,tixed on the check-bit, and the raised bar D on the mouth-piece, thestrain ofthe latteralways comes upon the middle ofthe checkbit, whatever position the mouth-piece may occupy. When the mouth-piece is pulled from side to side, the bar l) slides in the eye C. The use of a single eye allows the driving-bit or mouthpiece to be turnedindependently ofthe check-bit. The length of bar shown suffices to give areasonable play to the check-bit and mouth piece without interfering with the movements of the side pieces, E, independently of the central link, since practically it does not or need not extend beyond the said link.

A central link, G, Fig. 3, may be used in place of the link G, Fig. l.

In Fig. 2 an attachment in the form of a plate, G', slotted to form the raised bar D, is secured to a stiff mouth-piece or driving-bit, H, by means of rings I, which are sunk in grooves in the driving-bit. The raised barD may also be forged or cast on the driving-bit or mouthpiece,or be otherwise attached to it.

rlhe present invention is not limited to the precise construction shown, neither does it include the connection, with the cheek-bit, ofa stiff driving-bit or mouth-piece in contradis- The bar D is made,

tinction to a flexible or jointed one, the stiff bit being shown as illustrating an obvious application of the invention or of part thereof. Of course theinventi/on does not include the various bits which have been heretofore devised or used, as pointed out in' the first part of this specitication.

l I claim as my invention- 1. An improved bridle-bit, consisting of la driving-bit or mouthpiece and a check-bit,

the two pivotally or loosely connected together by a device or connection, substantially as described,fixed to the middle of the check-bit, engaging a raised bar on the driving-bit, so that the strain from the driving-bit or mouth-piece comes always on the middle of the check-bit and is borne equally by the check-straps at the two ends of the saine in all positions of the 'driving-bit or mouth-piece, substantially as set forth.

2. An improved bridle-bit, consisting of a driving-bit or mouthpiece anda check-bit, the two connected together by a raised bar on the driving-bit or mouth-piece, and a-single eye on the check-bit, said veye encircling said bar and being adapted to turn 'thereon laterally to a limited extent, as well as to slide vlengthwise of the same, substantially as described.

3. rThe improved bridle-bit, consisting of a jointed mouth-piece or driving-bit having a. central link provided with a raised bar, and a check-bit provided with a single eye encir-v cling said bar, on which it may slide and also turn laterally to a limited extent, said eye serving always to bring the strain or pull upon the middle of the checkbit, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in 'presence of two witnesses.

' BENJAMIN TURTON. Witnesses:

F. W. VAN WAGENER, EDWD. N. CRAIG. 

